The alternate name Auca is a pejorative exonym used by the neighboring Quechua natives, and commonly adopted by Spanish-speakers as well.

Their ancestral lands are located between the Curaray and Napo rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) south of El Coca.

As many as five communities—the Tagaeri, the Huiñatare, the Oñamenane, and two groups of the Taromenane—have rejected all contact with the outside world and continue to move into more isolated areas.

[citation needed] The name Waorani (or the alternative English spelling Waodani) represents a transliteration by English-speaking missionary linguists.

The sounds represented by the English and Spanish letters d and r are allophones in the Waorani language (also known as Sabela, Wao Terero, and pejoratively known as Auca).

[2][3] According to journalist Scott Wallace, American missionaries, led by Jim Elliot, attempted to contact the Waorani in the 1950s with airdropped gifts and visual messages.

After establishing a visual relationship, they attempted to land a small airplane on a beach nearby and contact the tribe in person.

"[8] To counterbalance the offense of hunting, a shaman demonstrated respect through the ritual preparation of the poison, curare, used in blow darts.

Canopy trees, with their distinctly colored young leaves and striking transformation as they mature to towering giants, are "admired for their solitary character... as well as for their profuse entanglement" with other plants.

Other significant trees are the pioneer species of the peach palm (used for making spears and blowguns, as well as for fruit), and fast-growing balsa wood, used for ceremonial purposes.

[10][page needed] Shamanic ethnomedicine uses the ayahuasca beverage[11] and a newly identified mushroom (Dictyonema huaorani) with the analogous substance of Psilocybe genus.